2024 South African Slam Champion Olive Olusegun. Picture by Aphiwe Moyo
In soccer, it’s often said that you hit the post twice before you score. The modus operandi, which encourages not giving up, is also beneficial in real life.
The recently crowned Poetry Africa Slam Champion Olive Olusegun seems to have the tenacity of a striker as she went from first coming fifth, then being a runner-up to winning this year.
“I was quite discouraged directly after the competition especially because I came so close,” Olusegun told The Citizen.
The 25-year-old poet came out tops in the 28th Poetry Africa festival over the weekend at the Centre for Creative Arts at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
Olusegun came fifth in 2022 and was placed second in the 2023 Slam Jam finals, but this year she went one better and will be representing South Africa at the 2025 World Poetry Slam Championships in Mexico.
Poetry Africa is an annual international poetry festival curated and presented by the Centre for Creative Arts at the University of Kwazulu-Natal in Durban each year in October.
The festival features Spoken Word & Publish Poets in performances and dynamic engagements which include panel discussions, campus and school visits, poetry exchanges, book launches, open mic sessions and a slam jam competition.
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The champion didn’t think she’d return and compete after last year’s results but she recalls someone telling her that it also took previous winners multiple tries before they won.
“That made me realise that it will take a lot of continuous determination and resilience to win the slam and I should not give up. This is my third year competing in the slam. The first year I competed I was top five, second year top two and this year first place,” averred Olusegun.
“Every year was worth it, I grew so much as a writer and performer. if I had not failed and pushed harder each year, I would not be as good as I am now so I am so grateful for this platform from Poetry Africa to try again, and again. I would encourage anyone, especially young poets, to be persistent with their dreams and not give up.”
Having competed at the Poetry Africa Slam Champion for three years now, Olusegun says the year in which she triumphed was the most challenging for her.
“This year’s top ten are all such brilliant writers and some of the best-experienced slam poets in the country,” she shared.
But she says the battle this year was more of a psychological one.
“But leading up to the competition, it was honestly psychologically intimidating. So I definitely had to grow in my mental fortitude, confront and overcome insecurities and refine myself to a whole new level to compete with this year’s group.”
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For the competition, poets from across the country were expected to submit a video to be selected for the top 10.
Instead of recording herself, she decided to transform her poem into a video animation that she drew from scratch. She also narrated the video in her voice.
“The video as a whole uses poetry, music, animation, and world-building to immerse the viewer into the narrative of the poems and bring the story and characters to life in a new way,” said Olusegun.
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Through her experience in the poetry scene, Olusegun has seen how important rest is. “The brain requires time to absorb the poems for memorisation,” she said, as she prepares to compete in Mexico in 2025.
“Apart from familiarising myself more with the World Slam performances, I will also be utilising all of the amazing resources we have here to prepare. The poetry community in SA is so embracing and helpful.”
She has been supported by fellow poets in South Africa and said she’ll rely on their support to further prepare for the global competition.
“I will be rehearsing and getting advice for writing and performance from my fellow poets here to help prepare.”
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Olusegun, who is also a part-time lecturer in Architecture at the University of Pretoria, describes herself as a professional poet.
“I am a freelancer, so I have the flexibility of working on multiple projects at a time. This gives me the flexibility to travel and perform,” she said.
“As a professional poet who has been invited overseas to perform, I do take my poetry very seriously and always prioritise performances.”
Olusegun is also a freelance candidate architect and graphic designer.
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